NEW HAVEN >> The chances are better this year that a bill approving aid in dying will pass the General Assembly, according to its proponents.

Representatives from Compassion & Choices, which advocates for death-with-dignity laws across the country, met with the New Haven Register’s editorial board Tuesday to discuss the bill that will be introduced this session in the Public Health Committee.

A similar bill in the 2013 session was not voted on.

According to a statewide poll commissioned by the organization, 65 percent of state residents favor such a bill, which would permit doctors to prescribe lethal medication to medically competent patients who have less than six months to live.

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“We’re very, very pleased with where we are today,” said Tim Appleton, Compassion & Choices’ state campaign manager. Whereas last year four or five people might come to a presentation, “just recently we had an event with 60 people at the Milford Public Library.”

“I think the people are ready to ... move the legislature to act,” said Mickey MacIntyre, chief program officer.

Oregon and Washington state have laws similar to Connecticut’s bill, which would require a waiting period of 15 days between a written request for lethal medication by the patient and an oral request. The written request has to be signed by two witnesses, one with no family or financial relationship to the patient.

The state bill also has a safeguard requiring a second physician to consult on the case. The provisions for a waiting period and second doctor were added to the bill in 2013 after public hearings, Appleton said.

“The waiting period has some pros and cons about it,” MacIntyre said. “It can also create a barrier to access for people who would otherwise qualify. ... They may no longer be able to swallow ... or they may lose their mental competency during that time period.”

Massachusetts and New Jersey also have bills that, like Connecticut’s, are “more along in their process and have the largest support of constituents,” MacIntyre said.

He said Montana and New Mexico have legalized “open immunity for health care providers,” based on court decisions. Vermont has passed a hybrid bill, which will switch from the Oregon model to immunity after three years.

In Washington, he said, aid in dying has been “integrated in oncology practices” so that those who are dying with cancer will have “the palliative impact of having the choice.” The decision is always up to the patient, however.

“When it’s completely integrated into the medical practice in this environment ... (it) actually benefits the patient,” MacIntyre said, because even a simple discussion with a doctor means “you know if it comes to it, you would have that control.”

Also, because mental competency and a prognosis of six months to live is required, the bill would not help patients with Alzheimer’s disease. “Alzheimer’s in and of itself is not a qualifier for the law ... without a terminal diagnosis,” MacIntyre said.

Aid-in-dying legislation is opposed by some in the disability community and the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a policy statement, “To Live Each Day with Dignity.”

“Jewish and Christian moral traditions have long rejected the idea of assisting in another’s suicide,” the statement says. “Catholic teaching views suicide as a grave offense against love of self, one that also breaks the bonds of love and solidarity with family, friends, and God.”

MacIntyre said Compassion & Choices honors each person’s beliefs and is not simply concerned with choices in dying. The organization “will support you if what you want is the longest possible life regardless of quality of life.”

Catherine Ludlum of Manchester, a disability-rights activist, said of the bill, “We are going to be fighting it this year and every year. There are no safeguards that can make this safe. What you’re doing is you’re redefining suicide as a medical procedure.”

Many disabled people are concerned about coercion, which is not always overt. “It changes the expectation of the whole culture,” Ludlum said, and could give people “at the edges or living in despair” — even teenagers — an idea that “there’s a medical blessing” on taking their lives.

MacIntyre said Compassion & Choices agrees that people “should live free from coercion, particularly within the medical systems of care.”

Compassion & Choices uses the terms “aid in dying” or “death with dignity,” not “assisted suicide.”

“It’s not suicide; people are already dying,” MacIntyre said. “In suicide you are actively seeking to take your life when you otherwise could live.” Terminally ill people would choose to live if they could, he said.

Clarification: The attorney of record for Montanans Against Assisted Suicide, Margaret Dore, has disputed the statement saying Montana has “open immunity for health care providers,” stating that assisted dying is not legal in Montana. According to a 2009 Montana Supreme Court case, doctors are protected from being charged with homicide if they assist such patients, but there is no state law legalizing aid in dying. Call Ed Stannard at 203-789-5743. Have questions, feedback or ideas about our news coverage? Connect directly with the editors of the New Haven Register at AskTheRegister.com.